Days Of Our Lives
by corrupted-innocent
Summary: Vampire Game, just a little Duzell x Phelios one-shot I've had lying around for a while. feel free to read, or not, as you choose. Disclaimer: Vampire Game is not mine; I'm just playing. I'm not that creative.


25,9,04

VAMPIRE GAME FIC!!!!!! WOOT!!!!!!!

anyway, I've had this little blurb written down on loose-leaf for a while now, and I figured, ahh, what the heck, I might as well post it.

(if you know me, you know I write get-together or couple-centric fics.)

PAIRINGS: mainly Phelios x Duzell, but I could have made it Ishtar x Darres if I wanted too. Well, I did, but I was too lazy to type it in. Pretend.

DAYS OF OUR LIVES

"It looks like La Gamme to me." Yu-Jinn said grimly. Ishtar nodded, recognizing the gruesome feel of the magic and the details from Duzell's descriptions of his nightmares.

"I'm sure you remember, of course." She murmured softly.

"Of course . . ." her teacher responded without realizing it. "I don't remember much, but there's no other obvious spell to achieve these affects. Though, when I . . ." he trailed off, a look of horrified realization growing on his face. Ishtar smiled coyly, with not a little bit of vindictive triumph, and turned to Darres. Her bodyguard was looking back and forth between the two, slightly curious and utterly confused. He hadn't heard what was said, but Yu-Jinn's terror-stricken face was cause for concern.

"Darres, would step away for a bit?" Ishtar asked cheerfully. He looked at her a bit suspiciously, but left without comment. When he was out of earshot, Ishtar turned back to Yu-Jinn, all smiles gone. The magic teacher looked uncomfortable. After a long silence, he finally spoke up.

"How did you know?" Ishtar glared at him, unforgiving and unconvinced by his suppliant tone.

"Do you have any _idea_ how many nights he's cried himself to sleep on my shoulder, after having nightmares about that day?"

Yu-Jinn looked up sharply, a puzzled and hopeful look on his face. Slowly, he realized that Ishtar actually was referring to who he thought she was. "Duzzel . . ." he said it like a prayer. "How . . . what do you mean? I don't understand," he begged.

"You didn't realize?" Ishtar stated flatly. "How disappointing. I was sure you were at least suspicious of us." Yu-Jinn just looked lost. "My Kyawl cat, Duzzie?" Ishtar clarified. "You _do_ know he shape-shifts?"

Yu-Jinn leaned back, shell-shocked. "What . . . show me?" he asked weakly. Ishtar took a long, calculating look at him, considering. It really was Duzzel's right to approach Phelios' reincarnation as he saw fit . . . but Yu-Jinn looked like he needed to see the former Vampire King just as much as Duzzel agonized over speaking to him. Ishtar wasn't stupid- she had a boyfriend; she had seen the way Duzzel felt about his once-archenemy, and she was definitely getting the same sense from Yu-Jinn now. She almost wished they would get this resolved, if nothing else then for the sake of her friend's sanity.

"He'll shift back after Darres walks me to my rooms tonight, if at all. If he sleeps, especially as a human, he gets nightmares. He doesn't sleep much." Ishtar looked away. "Follow me back and listen outside the door, if you want."

Yu-Jinn crept up to the door, having waited five tense minutes after Darres left. All day, he'd been remembering that moment when he'd cast that thrice-cursed spell. He could remember Duzzel's anguished face as though the Vampire King stood in front of him at that very moment. He could still hear that sweet voice, choked in death, asking, "Why . . . Phelios?" In desperation, his enemy had cast a curse of his own, but it was too late for them then. Was this life already beyond saving too?

Yu-Jinn shook his memories of Phelios from his mind, creeping closer to the doorway. He saw that Ishtar had purposely left it open.

". . . Duz, you know I love you like a brother. You can't keep hiding like this, it's _killing_ you!" Yu-Jinn heard her sigh. "Come here. Tonight you will get some sleep, if I have anything to say about it." There was the sound of soft movement, a rasp of cloth, still silence.

"Gods, I miss him." Yu-Jinn froze at the sound. That voice . . . sad, lost and forlorn . . . he would know it anywhere. Duzzel. "I . . . I thought I could forget my feelings, come to hate him, after . . . that day. But just as soon as I tasted his blood again, I knew . . ." A short pause. "I think he hated me, truly."

"Oh Duzzel . . ." Yu-Jinn whispered brokenly.

A swift silence descended in the room beyond the door, as Yu-Jinn silently cursed himself thoroughly in every language he knew. He knew many. Running now would only make things worse; whether he liked it or not, he would be facing this now.

He pushed the door open, straightening and walking in calmly and closing the door behind himself. He never looked at the direction where he knew Ishtar and . . . and Duzell . . . were sitting. He gazed instead towards his feet, bare in the summer inside the royal palace.

"I'm so sorry . . . Duzell. I didn't-" He took a fast, shuddering breath. "I love you." For a moment, there was silence.

"Phelios . . ." Duzzel said at last, sounding almost like he was in pain. Yu-Jinn- no, he was truly Phelios now- Phelios flinched at the sound. "Why?" Duzzel begged of him.

"I . . . We were at war-"

"_Damn_ the war!" Duzell growled. Phelios still did not look up, but he heard someone stand, same the trail of Ishtar's dress as she moved out onto the balcony, leaving them alone.

"You deserved someone better than me," Phelios whispered, voice shaking. "Someone who wouldn't whither and die after less than a century. Not a weak mortal."

Duzzel punched him. Phelios hadn't even heard him move. He hit the wall, hard, and bit his lip by accident. The blood welled in his mouth- he was forced to look up at last as the reincarnate Vampire King crouched before him and lifted his chin with callused knuckles. His breath caught.

"You were never weak, Phelios," Duzzel whispered. Phelios opened his mouth to protest, but he couldn't bring himself to speak around Duzell's chaste kiss, which quickly became more passionate as the Vampire King tasted the blood in his mouth.

A few minutes later, Ishtar peeked in from the balcony, long enough to grab a blanket and pillow from her bed, and smiled. Her little vampire was taking 'kiss and make up' to a whole new level. Things were looking up.

THE END

feel free to review, but I didn't really intend to do anything with this later, so . . . unless people _really_ like it, this isn't going anywhere. thanks for reading!!!!


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